Salazar Slytherin and the Chamber for Rainbow
by Ophelia Joane
Summary: To Salazar Slytheirn, his basilisk is more than just a creature he can control. He was a friend. (Full of fluffily goodness!)


_Written for the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition for Beater 1 of the Appleby Arrows. _

_Prompts: (word) transformation __(quote) "You can't live your life for other people. You've got to do what's right for you, even if it hurts some people you love." -Nicholas Sparks, The Notebook_

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

* * *

There are few things actually known about Salazar Slytherin. Was he an evil wizard? No. Did he hate muggles and muggleborns? Maybe. Did he create complicated magic inside Hogwarts just to stay with his beloved friend? Without a doubt, yes.

* * *

Basilisks, Salazar decided, were rather difficult creatures to create.

Of course, it wasn't as if he was the one to do it, that's what the wizard he paid to do it was for. But Salazar would have to kill him, there couldn't be any word getting out that one of the four founders of Hogwarts had a basilisk. Everyone would freak out over practically nothing and Salazar could find himself in a compromising position at the end of someone else's wand.

Yes, that wizard would have to die.

Salazar continued on pondering the different ways he could end the wizards life, when there was a knock on the door of his little cottage. With a flick of a wrist, the door open, revealing the almost 'late' wizard.

"Sir, it is time."

Salazar's eyebrows shot up, "What, already?" he asked.

"Basilisks, being creatures of magic, are rather unpredictable... some being later hatchlings, and others being earlier ones," the wizard said.

"Hm, very well then, is there anything else I should know?" Salazar asked, the wizard shook his head. Salazar smirked, and opened his mouth, ready to let the man bleed to death.

"Oh, wait!" the wizard cried out, and Salazar stopped. "There is one other thing- basilisks are rather attached creatures, as you know... but if one gets too attached, then things can go downhill and bad things will happen. See, when you die the basilisk will grieve more than any human could. They will spend the rest of their lives not able to look for a new master, because they are still attached to you. There is going to be some point in its life when you need to let go, sever the connection. Basilisks are very rare, and emotionally, they are very fragile."

Salazar nodded slowly, thankful for the new information. "Thank you, Mr..."

"Borgin."

"Right, Mr. Borgin. I may just spare your life for it," Salazar did not give the other wizard time to digest the information before disapparating.

He ended up on a hill, miles away from his cottage. Looking down, he saw a dark green, slimy, ugly creature with horrifying yellow eyes and a stench that could compare to a troll. Salazar smiled, it took him about a minute to fall in love with the basilisk. He could already tell that his life was going to change, now that he had the little creature to raise and take care of. Salazar grabbed the little creature, and held it close to his chest. In a low parseltongue, he spoke.

"I shall call you Rainbow, for you have brought color back into my life."

* * *

In only a couple of months, Rainbow's transformation was incredible. From being about an arm's length long, it grew to be too big for Salazar's bed (in which he liked to snuggle with the basilisk), to even being too big for his cottage. He was now at a lost of where to keep the creature.

"I know!" he said to Rainbow one night, "I'll keep you at Hogwarts, so when the term starts again you'll have a place to live and still be close to me!" Ten points to Slytherin, he thought to himself.

Rainbow seemed to like the idea, for he wiggled his body and hissed a 'yes.'

And that's when Salazar got the idea of creating his Chamber of Secrets.

The process of creating the chamber was actually a lot harder than Salazar thought it would be. He had to somehow figure out where he could make it, all the while trying not to make the other three founders suspicious of him. It was in his nature to be shady, and Helga, Rowena, and Godric all knew that, so Salazar did not do a very good job at hiding what he was doing.

It took him days to scour the castle for perfect hiding places, and it wasn't until he accidentally went into the girl's loo, that he got the idea of hiding Rainbow there. Salazar decided he would make the entrance to the chamber disguised as a sink, which was pretty clever on his part.

What madman would think there was an entrance to a chamber with a deadly snake in a girls' lavatory?

Exactly.

Unfortunately, the chamber wasn't as grand as Salazar wanted it to be. For it was just a small, simple room, with a gigantic bowl of water. There were also a few bits of bones lying around, left from Rainbow's previous dinners that were brought to him.

Salazar wasn't a sociopath, obviously, so they were mostly animal skeletons. Mostly.

Rainbow seemed happy with it though, and Salazar was glad. Having him in the castle would make much easier on him to visit his beloved basilisk. The chamber would also be the setting for many memories in the future. Salazar feeding him his first cow, Rainbow growing his first deadly fang, Salazar teaching Rainbow how to use his deadly stare and poisonous fangs...

Both Salazar and Rainbow remembered those memories very fondly.

* * *

Later in Salazar's life, years later, he remembered the words of the wizard that had brought him his Rainbow. He knew he was getting on in years, already having retired from teach classes at Hogwarts and just living in the castle.

Having Rainbow there had actually been a lot easier than he thought it would be. He morphed what had been a small room with a huge bowl of water into larger room with practically a fountain at the end of it, and much smaller corridors that led to other rooms that held the rest of his secrets.

Unfortunately, though, Salazar knew it was time.

Speaking in parseltongue, he called for the beast.

"Yes, Master," the scaly snake said.

"Rainbow, you've been my closest companion for many years now. And I want you to know that I've never loved anyone or anything, except you. You've filled the hole in my heart, and that is why I must do this. I must let you go. For when I die, you will suffer."

"I don't understand, Master, I like the way things are. I don't mind this so called 'suffering'. You say you love me, why won't you keep me? What else can I do?"

"You can't live your life for other people. You've got to do what's right for you, even if it hurts some people you love." Even if that person is me, Slytherin silently added.

"I don't want to leave, this is our home!"

"Fine. Don't leave the castle, I will," Salazar started walking to the exit, a set of stairs in the far corner of the chamber.

"Wait, Master!"

He stopped, slowly turning to look at the basilisk. "I am no more your master. It is time you found someone else. I will, however, always be your friend. Your family."

Rainbow watched as his ex-Master left the chamber, not knowing what to think, feel, or say. But Rainbow knew that his bond with his previous master would always stay with him, and he no longer felt sad. Rather, Rainbow was happy that his master loved him enough to ensure Rainbow could move on, when Salazar could not.

He spent the next thousand years alone with only memories of his previous master.

Until a new parseltongue stumbled across the chamber. Slytherin's heir.

If a basilisk could smile, Rainbow certainly would have.

"Ah, so my new Master has finally arrived," he hissed to the dark-haired boy.

Straightening, the boy hissed back, "Indeed I have. I am Tom Marvolo Riddle, and you must be," Tom visibly blanched, but continued, "Rainbow. How very nice it is to meet you."

Rainbow felt his heart swell at the thought of this new master who looked so much like his old one.


End file.
